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And the winner of
Round nine, WILDCARD is: The winner has been noted on the site: http://www.podcastbattle.com/ Here are the votes: -------------------------------------------
Round Nine Vote: from Scott Schaffer Sooooo difficult. This was my reaction to this weeks entries. A quick chronological summary. Monday night - This is fun more great picks but lets face it, throwing the wailers at the record plant into the mix is almost unfair. Every song off that tape is incredible. But I feel that the reason none of the original Wailers songs have been picked for the battle is because they are all so good in every way, and voting against them would be sacrilegious. So, for sake of sacrilege I rebelled against it. It's like a ringer. But still not sure. Tuesday - Gonna vote for Mr. Cop for sure.? Out of this world song, so original and unusual. The way Gregory politely admonishes the cop is great. After all it is better than in the streets bursting guns. I too love to lick the cup, as much as possible. Jah Tooth at his finest. The cool ruler for sure. He is such a bad ass I can't believe it. Thursday - (After too many listens) Brad. Brad, brad, brad brad. What we going to do about you? At first I dismissed this song as just another alpha blondy type song. I thought the music was awesome but I just could not vote for a song that was in French that I could not understand. I felt Brad was brave in his choice and sacrificing potential votes for song(s) he really liked. Kudos to Brad for trying but no way. The more I thought about it tho and after reading his blurb and the song lyrics I was really interested in Tiken Jah Fakoly. I am happy to hear some "roots" reggae and some (unfortunately)true strugglers music in these times of commercialized watered down shitty reggae. Even though I feel this initial battle should, in some way, represent the pioneers of reggae, I think voting for Tiken Jah Fakoly is the right thing to do. After all, there are no rules. Nicely done Brad. Scott Schaffer -------------------------------------------
Round Nine Vote: from Brad Paul From the very start of podcastbattle I kept wondering if LKJ would find a place to land. He is roots, he is dub, but he also occupies a unique place within the reggae world. A bit like Joe’s earlier masterful Michael Smith selection, at its best politically driven dub poetry is able to perfectly connect all the elements that can make the best of reggae so engaging. For me, Sonny’s Lettah is a wonderful selection that highlights LKJ’s amazing creativity- poignant lyrics delivered in the form of a letter- and the excellence of the Dub Band. It goes without saying that the Wailers and Gregory selections are tremendous and almost impossible to vote against, yet the originality and special qualities found within LKJ’s music, and this tune in particular, give him the slight edge. Brad Paul -------------------------------------------
Round Nine Vote: from Howard J Wow, Big Guns abound!! Great round, no real slackness to report! I give this to Tiken Jah Fakoly, as it was the most original selection. Sonny's Letter has always been a strong personal favorite of mine, and Mr. Cop and I have a personal relationship!! These songs are just both monster reggae classics, and seriously some of my favorite songs of all time, but I give it up for the originality of Tiken Jah Fakoly!!. I was struck by the raw power of Deliverance. Great round, great selections all around. Howard J -------------------------------------------
Round Nine Vote: from Joe Lowndes Deliverance - Tiken Jah Fakoly. Tough round for me - I loved all of 'em. Sonny's Lettah is a classic. One of LKJ's very best. It is a concise portrait of what black immigrants faced (still face) in the UK, and the story hits you like a two-by-four. That live version of Lively Up Yourself is all that Howard said it was - pure, raw, young Wailers energy. But Deliverance was both a great song and one I had never heard before by an artist that I had never heard before. That gave it the edge I suppose. The instrumentation and production are stellar, and Fakoly's lamenting vocals are very powerful. The sense of political exhaustion, of near hopelessness are so palpable here. Generally I don't love african reggae, but this song felt incredibly real. And having a sense of what that particular corner of west Africa has been through in the last two decades, the gravity of it hits home even harder. I look forward to checking out more of his work. Joe
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